We of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) labor center express our solidarity with all dockworkers, the Union of Hong Kong Dockers (UHKD), and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), who are currently holding a strike in the ports controlled by the Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT), the subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL).
The dockworkers ofHong Konghave every right to wage militant struggle and launch a strike. We condemn the HIT, HPHT and HWL for violating the dockworkers’ fundamental rights – the right to decent wages, safe working conditions, an eight-hour workday, collectively bargain, and strike. We condemn them for refusing to negotiate with the striking workers and for engaging in divisive tactics like offering bonuses during the strike.
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While the container ports inHong Kongare host to some of the biggest transnational corporations like Walmart, dockworkers are denied improvements in their working conditions. Worse, the ports seek to intensify the exploitation of workers through various schemes like subcontracting. These schemes will press down workers’ wages, promote contractual employment, and make it more difficult for workers to form their unions. They will therefore strengthen capitalist control over workers.
Filipino dockworkers, such as port drivers and stevedores, also face severe exploitation and difficult working conditions. They bear a heavy workload but can barely sustain the basic needs of their families. They reside in homes suffering from extreme poverty and hunger and facing threats of demolition. They bear the brunt of the anti-worker and anti-poor employment and economic policies of the government of President Noynoy Aquino.
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The KMU and the Filipino workers and people support theHong Kongworkers in their ongoing strike and on their future struggles for workers‘ rights.
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Solidarity for the dockworkers ofHong Kong!
Struggle against subcontracting and other anti-worker schemes!
Long live the dockworkers and workers of the world!